Vithya Ramraj Becomes India's Fastest Woman and Asia's 3rd Fastest in 400m Hurdles

Vithya Ramraj won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre hurdles at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. The race took place on Monday, 28 September. She finished behind UAE's Mariam Kareem, who took gold with a Games Record of 54.31s, and Kazakhstan's Adelina Zems, who clocked a personal best of 54.58s. This result makes Vithya the third-fastest woman in Asia in this event.

Vithya Ramraj won the 2026 Asian Games Bronze Medal

This is Vithya's second Asian Games bronze in a row in the 400m hurdles, after her medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games began on 19 September, when Japan's Emperor Naruhito inaugurated them, and the athletics events were held at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium in Nagoya. The closing ceremony will take place on 4 October at the same venue. Vithya ran a personal-best race and stayed in the gold medal fight till the end, but the top two athletes finished just ahead of her.

Vithya Ramraj Set a National Record Time of 54.75s in the Women's 400 Metre Hurdles

Vithya finished the race in 54.75 seconds, which is also her personal best. She came close to the gold medal but missed it by a narrow margin. Interestingly, she had equalled the earlier national record while winning bronze at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Vithya Ramraj Breaks PT Usha's 42-Year-Old National Record for 400m Hurdles

Her time of 54.75s beat the record of 55.42s set by PT Usha at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. This was India's longest-standing national athletics record, and it stood for 42 years before Vithya broke it.

Who Is Vithya Ramraj?

Vithya was born on 20 September 1998 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Her mother enrolled her and her identical twin sister Nithya in a sports hostel in Erode, which eased the family's finances and started their athletics journey. She later completed a business administration degree under the sports quota and joined the national camp in Patiala in 2018.

Her early years were not easy. She faced language barriers, fell ill, and had appendicitis surgery that disturbed her Olympic trial preparation. In 2022, she moved to Chennai and began training under coach Nehpal Singh Rathore, who encouraged her to focus on hurdles instead of flat sprints.

Indian Women Win India’s First Athletics Gold in 4x400m Relay at Asian Games 2026

Just a day later, Vithya helped India win gold in the women's 4x400m relay. The team included Kiran Pahal, M R Poovamma, Prachi Chaudhary, and Vithya Ramraj. They finished in 3:29.69, ahead of Bahrain (3:30.21) and China (3:31.02).

This was India's first athletics gold at these Games after a six-day wait. India had won this event from 2002 to 2018 before settling for silver in the last edition. In total, India won 24 athletics medals (1 gold, 9 silver, 14 bronze).